India could have avoided Doklam standoff with China if Modi was careful: Rahul

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the Doklam standoff with China was not an "isolated issue" but part of a "sequence of events" and if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was carefully watching the process, India could have stopped it.

Addressing the International Institute of Strategic Studies here, Gandhi said that "Prime Minister is episodic. He views Doklam as an event".

"Doklam is not an isolated issue. It was a part of a sequence of events, it was a process.

"If he (PM Modi) was carefully watching the process, he could've stopped it," Gandhi, who is also a member of the parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, said at the London-based think-tank.

He claimed that the "truth is the Chinese are still in Doklam today".

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh told Rajya Sabha last month that there have been no new developments at the site of the face-off with China in Doklam and its vicinity, and status quo prevails in the area.

"Since the disengagement of Indian and Chinese border personnel in the Doklam area on August 28, 2017, there have been no new developments at the face-off site and its vicinity. The status quo prevails in this area," Singh had said.